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Residential school survivors can now seek cash
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by angryindian | September 19, 2007 at 09:34 am
709 views | 12 Recommendations | 2 comments
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For those NP readers who are non-Native, the Indian residential schools are a very painful reminder of Indigenous genocide in the Americas. These primarily missionary-run "conversion centres" were dedicated to "Killing the Indian, saving the man" and removing any vestiges of an Aboriginal culture or ethnic identification among the conquered. Very few Aboriginal families were spared this ordeal and many people are still walking around with the memories of rapes and other sexual abuses performed against them by the clergy that run these centres.
This payout is not a free check. Indian people need these funds to pay for mental health care they do not receive from the state that imposed the conversions in the first place. - The Angryindian
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"WINNIPEG — Applications are in the mail for survivors of aboriginal residential schools to apply for cash under a previously announced $2-billion compensation package. “Some people may have already received them,” Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said Winnipeg at a news conference with aboriginal leaders, including Assembly of First Nations national Chief Phil Fontaine. The forms are also available at government offices, where staff will be available to help people fill them out. Mr. Fontaine called the announcement cause for celebration. “It is perhaps even a turning point in the history of this nation,” he said. “As of today, a long 150-year journey has come to an end. ... The settlement agreement marks the success of that journey.” Mr. Fontaine said the agreement is a symbolic acknowledgment of the harm done to aboriginal people. “It is not a government handout. It is an admission of wrongdoing and an attempt to make amends.”"
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 11:47 on September 19th, 2007
Angryindian, two billion dollars seems a low figure to aid the original caretakers of this country but, it's a start. HBO's production, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, which many considered an attempt to portray both sides of the issue, did not match Dee Brown's book of the same name, detailing the years and years of broken treaties, stolen lands and abuse heaped upon the People.
We as citizens of the planet must work to assure that no culture is ever again viewed as less than worthy or, even worse, worthless, to be deprived of the right to live as a free, self determinant people.
at 18:04 on October 6th, 2007
A small sum for trying wipe out a culture,traditions and beliefs that one religion rules over anything else.
Of course the land issue has been farted with around for a century by politicians of all stripes, and they call first nations terrorists.